DESIGNING WOMEN

REVIEWED BY ELIZABETH CHANCELLOR

Our rating: 4 out of 5

Because of: innuendo and mild violence

Rated:

Mike Hagen (Gregory Peck) is a sportswriter on assignment in Los Angeles to cover a golf tournament. Marilla Brown (Lauren Bacall) is a fashion designer on vacation. Funny these two New Yorker’s should meet in California; funnier still that they should return home as man and wife.

That theirs was a whirlwind courtship is saying the least. The two met while attending a party thrown in honor of the winner of the golf tournament. They collaborated on the story the reporter was to send back to his newspaper’s office and Mike, a little the worse for a few celebratory drinks, bestowed upon Marilla $700 in appreciation of her help. To her such a grand sum seems rather ridiculous. By the next morning, a more sober Mike thinks so too. But he did give Marilla the money; I just wouldn’t be right to take it back. She thinks it wouldn’t be right to keep it. To be fair, the couple decides to spend it together.

The next few days find the pair laughing, lounging about and spending hardly a cent of that notorious $700. After all, what’s money when two people are in love? Deciding life apart would be just too unbearable, Mike and Marilla wed. All is bliss for the first month after their return to New York. Even so, differences of taste and opinion arise when Mike’s comfortable, practical preferences clash with Marilla’s highbrow lifestyle. And try as she may, Marilla just can’t get the hang of Mike’s interest in sports. She might be “the best dressed fight fan the seconds had ever seen,” but really, even Marilla should know better than to wear a mink dress to a boxing match. Still the two will not allow these quirks to ruin a happy marriage. But will they still feel so loving when their ex-flames enter the picture?

Based on an idea by MGM costume designer Helen Rose, Designing Woman was originally to star James Stewart and Grace Kelly. No doubt the studio had hoped to rekindle the chemistry discovered in the pair’s previous Rear Window. But when Hollywood’s Princess left to marry Monaco’s Prince, Jimmy also backed out. So, the roles of Mike and Marilla Hagen were recast, this time featuring Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall. Their teaming couldn’t have been more wonderful. What really drew me in was their character’s decision to get married rather than having an affair. It’s a lovely change from what would happen today. And not only do Peck and Bacall look well together, but their interplay is also marvelous. Rarely have I seen anyone handle comedy as well as they do. One scene finds him with an entire plate of ravioli spilt in his lap. Her comment: “It certainly doesn’t go with gray.”

Speaking of gray, I mustn’t forget to mention Dolores Gray, a marvelously talented actress who plays Mike’s former girlfriend, Lori Shannon, to perfection. Her character is the cause of one of the film’s funniest scenes, as well as some of its best lines. Unfortunately, she is too often clad in skimpy dance costumes. Thanks to a photo found in Mike’s apartment of Lori in one of these outfits, Marilla suspects her husband’s flame for this beautiful blonde has not yet died out. Her questioning of Mike’s loyalty is not a problem; her way of going about it is, for “guilty until proven innocent” seems to be her rule. To put his wife’s mind at ease, Mike does not tell her the truth, but rather concocts a dilly of a lie -- bad idea. He also insists that drinking clears his thinking; this is taken more as a joke than anything else. Yet whatever Mike’s personal flaws may be, he does not allow them to mar his professional work. He strives for honesty and accuracy in his reporting, even to the point of enduring bodily harm. One Johnny O. (Chuck Connors), a professional bully, is set on his tail thanks to some unfavorable articles Mike had written about Mr. O’s crooked boss. This is the cause of two mild fight scenes. Also in the way of violence is the boxing match Mike and Marilla attend.

Despite its flaws, Designing Woman is delightful under the expert direction of Vincent Minnelli. Artistry abounds as each scene is wackily and wonderfully shot. Bright, imaginative and all around hilarious, this is a film you’ll have to see for yourself!

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